Construction is underway on Delaware’s largest-ever maritime infrastructure project, a $669 million container terminal that state officials say will quadruple the state’s cargo-handling capacity and create thousands of high-paying jobs, even as rival port operators mount new legal challenges to stop it.
The Delaware Container Terminal (DCT), sited on 137 acres of former DuPont industrial land along the Delaware River in Edgemoor, began major construction in 2026 after years of permitting battles and a 2024 court ruling that temporarily revoked federal dredging and seawall permits. Those permits were reissued in April 2026, allowing work to proceed on the waterside elements that include dredging the channel to 45 feet, building a new seawall and high deck, and installing foundational infrastructure for a modern, all-electric container facility.
The terminal is being developed through a public-private partnership between the state-owned Diamond State Port Corp. (DSPC) and terminal operator Enstructure, which already manages facilities at the nearby Port of Wilmington. Once complete, DCT and the upgraded Wilmington facility will operate under a unified “Port Delaware” brand, with a combined annual box capacity of up to 1.6 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs)…